Caught
by LiveinLivingColor
Summary: All Carlton Lassiter wants is to get rid of Shawn Spencer. When the opportunity arises, he finds himself reconsidering. Shules, through Lassiter's eye.


Carlton Lassiter had decided that it must be Shawn Spencer's personal mission to make his life a complete nightmare. He cringed when he heard the now-familiar babbling about what actor he would be if this crime scene was a movie coming from behind him, and he dreaded Shawn's sudden bursts of psychic vision that usually ended with him performing dance moves from a bad boy band music video.

Lassiter took his job very seriously, and he had a difficult time protecting the people of Santa Barbara with Shawn's immaturity to distract him. He was sitting at his desk, smiling as he realized how quiet the station currently was. Most of the other officers (with the exception of Chief Vick) had left for the day, after closing a large murder case, and he was content to do paperwork in peace. He smiled, knowing he could finally do his job without feeling like the babysitter to a twenty five year old child. Life, he thought, was good.

That was, until he looked up from his computer, glancing towards Juliet O'Hara's desk in the back corner of the station. She was packing up for the day, placing her things in a bag and zipping it shut, and Shawn was leaning against her desk, talking incessantly. He was most likely telling some kind of lengthy joke that no one else found funny, and Lassiter was mostly annoyed that he had decided to stick around rather than leave him (and his work) alone.

Juliet laughed, smiling at Shawn as she slung her bag over her shoulder. As Juliet moved to walk out, Shawn reached for her hand, pulling her back towards the desk to stand in front of him. She laughed again, saying something to him, and he took both of her hands in his as she glanced around the station, checking their surroundings. Lassiter immediately ducked his head, practically burning a hole into his computer screen with his eyes.

He couldn't believe it. Absolutely could not believe that Juliet O'Hara had seemed to have fallen for Spencer's sickening charm. He wondered briefly how long they had been together behind his back, behind _everyone's_ back. He didn't really have any solid proof, of course, considering that holding hands didn't mean they were officially together. For all he knew, it could be part of their strange, but admittedly fitting, friendship. If he knew for sure, he could tell the Chief. His lips moved into a grin as he realized that one sentence from him could get Spencer out forever. The Chief disapproved of inter-office relationships, and if Lassiter played his cards right, he could give her a reason to get rid of their resident psychic for good.

He looked back towards the pair in the corner and his eyes flew open wide as he saw their lips meet, Shawn pulling Juliet towards him as he wrapped his arms around her. As he recovered from the shock, Lassiter realized that this was what he needed. He flexed his hands, prepared to get up, march to the Chief's office and out the couple, but felt himself pause as he took another glance. Her arms had wrapped around his neck and she smiled up at him, planting a kiss on his cheek as she took one of his hands in hers. They turned towards the main work area, moving to leave, when they halted, noticing Lassiter perched on the edge of his chair, staring right at them.

He had inadvertently made eye contact with Juliet, and saw her face flush and her eyes go wide. Even Spencer seemed a little lost for a witty remark, and the three stared each other down from across the large, dimly lit station.

He had made Shawn Spencer speechless, truly worried that Lassiter might ruin this for him, and the satisfaction he thought he would feel never came. He glanced towards the Chief's closed office door and back at the pair, frozen, hands dropped to their sides, and realized that for the first time in a long while, his partner looked happy. He had seen her saddened glances at Spencer since the day he had been shot six months ago, and when Shawn's girlfriend broke things off three months later, Lassiter had seen a glimmer of hope in Juliet's eye as she pretended not to be interested in the split. He realized he hadn't seen her smile until she looked at Spencer moments ago, and as much as he wanted the psychic out of his life, he couldn't bring himself to crush what had brought O'Hara happiness (although he would never in a million years understand why).

He nodded slightly, turned back towards his computer screen, and said, loudly, "Goodnight, O'Hara."

He didn't look, but he was sure she and Spencer were sharing confused looks.

"Good…Goodnight, Lassiter."

He listened to her heels click all the way to the door, and didn't look away from his screen until the door had shut behind them, leaving Lassiter to sit quietly in the dark, empty station.

The following Friday, as he left for the weekend, he could see Juliet and Shawn walking through the parking lot to her car, hands intertwined. He saw the Chief open the front door to the station, her bag and car keys in hand.

"Chief!" he yelled, a little too loudly, and jumped in front of her.

"Carlton." She looked half alarmed and half confused, and he struggled to make up something to say.

"Uh…have a…nice weekend." He stumbled, smiling weakly.

"You too…" she said warily, giving him a concerned glance as she made her way towards her car.

As she drove away, Lassiter saw Shawn and Juliet stepping in front of the car they had ducked behind at Lassiter's greeting. They flashed him gracious smiles and he nodded back as they got into their car, content with their unspoken understanding.

Lassiter headed towards his own car, a smile curving onto his lips. He hadn't seen a thing.


End file.
